The Last Graduate picks up exactly where book one left off. El played the hero at the end of book one and the Scholomance is determined to make her pay dearly. What is the meaning of her mother's note? And how will we make it to graduation this year?
Novik does a brilliant job of continuous worldbuilding, even throughout book two. Book one established the world of the Scholomance, but book two explains many of the logistical questions that book one left us with. I like to think that the Scholomance could exist in some Night Vale sister universe.
El has softened up a bit. She's still a brilliant character, but much less angsty and much less sarcastic than the girl we met at the onset of A Deadly Education. Oh - and much more conflicted now that she doesn't pretend to just absolutely loathe humanity.
Halfway through the book, I was starting to feel as if the story was dragging and thinking that rewriting the book as a series of diary entries might actually be the better approach to how Novik is telling the story. Then I got to the last 150 pages and I DON'T CARE. IT'S BRILLIANT.
Like El, we've all been mislead since day one. And the sudden change of perspective is so incredibly interesting. Brilliantly, brilliantly done, Novik. Bravo.
And the ending. THE ENDING. Guess I'm committed to reading book 3 now! Thanks for a fabulous adventure, Novik!
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